B&Q power tool warranty

[Dave Plowman (News)]

An average life for Ni-Cads might be 500 cycles. Possibly more with a decent charger - much less with a poor one. Especially if starting out with poor quality cells as these drills will have.

[Mike Dodd]

Agreed completely. The failure is, at least in part, attributable to the way that the drill's been (not) used.

[Andy Hall]

£90 is a long way from top of the range for a drill-driver. Prices range from about £30 to over £300.

I think that it would be extremely difficult to get anything on a Small Claims basis at this price point and timescale.

[Andy Hall]

I think that you are being unrealistic. £90 is not anywhere close to top end for a drill-driver. Prices range from £30 to over £300.

The battery is dead because this class of drill uses cheap batteries to minimise the cost - it's the most expensive part.

The mechanics are the next most expensive part and up for cost saving where possible and it is not surprising that the parts have failed.

The reason why there is a three year warranty is threefold:

- It appears to be an attractive deal to the customer, who then gains the impression that the product is decent and that the supplier is standing behind it. Nothing is further from the truth.

- B&Q is a volume box mover and has supplier contracts which will undoubtedly factor in a certain return/throw-away rate. THe supplier may have to replace up to a certain percentage or it is factored into the margins.

- There is no spares or repair backup. Faulty ones go in the skip.

There is a statute of limitations of 6 years which means that you have the opportunity to make a legal claim against the retailer for up to that time. The warranty is a convenience only.

Had you bought a top end drill like a Panasonic or Makita at around £300, it would be reasonable to expect a long lifetime from it, and indeed you would probably get one. There would be spares and service backup if it failed. You would have had quality batteries and mechanics and it is fairly unlikely that the problems that you have seen would have occurred.

So let's say you went to court with this. Had it been a £300 product and top of the range, then it would be a reasonable claim. However, set a £90 product against that, and it's difficult to argue that a three year warranty is unreasonable.

I think that there are three options here:

- Go back to the store and ask nicely on the basis that it has hardly been used and is only two months out of warranty. I have been able to persuade B&Q of this in the past, but it was on a higher end and different product.

- Try some pressure with a threat of small claims action. Frankly if I were the retailer, I think I'd stand my ground, though.

- Chalk it up to experience and buy a Makita product for £150-180 and avoid the problem in the future.

[Capitol]

It's a cheap IMM type tool. Just replace the batteries with cells from CPC and carry on using it. If it has been left discharged for any length of time, this tends to kill the battery performance.

Regards Capitol

[AlexW]

There is a PP/PPro helpline telephone number on the side of each tool IIRC. I phoned it and they offered to provide parts, I was after a slide arm for a guard on their original 10" SCMS two years old, and out of warrantee at the time. In the end I bought a new saw for various reasons and repaired the bent arm. But the service was there.

Alex.

[Doctor Drivel]

£30??? Woolies have an 18v for £5

Nonsense. You can buy spare batteries form B&Q or they will give you a number to order one from.

£300. You can get 60 Woolies drills for that.

With the Woolies drills, you just pick another up until the 60 all runs out. Which will be longer than the life of a Makita. 60 of them?

£90 for a drill and only one of the batteries is duff? How much for a new battery? Probably still a lot cheaper than buying a Makita for similar performance.

[Andy Hall]

All PPro products? Comprehensive range of parts?

[AlexW]

Dunno...

But my random shot in the dark for a part I did not expect to be able to get turned out to be getable.

We had to select the product PP250CMS and then work though a few sub-assy descriptions etc. They then told me the price (about a tenner IIRC) and indicated that it was not ex-stock and it would take a few weeks to get. I didn't bother in the end and did a quick fix on the slide arm thingy.

That's all the info I have. But this is /seems/ than 'no spares or backup'.

Phone 'em & see, maybe they have canned this helpline?

Alex

[AlexW]

Problem is £5 drills will probably have a fairly long charge time. So to do a days work you need say 5 batteries ... all charged up?

A tad inconvenient eh?

Alex

[David Lang]

Agreed, but that's not the point. Blagging B&Q isn't difficult.

Dave

[David Lang]

But the OP made it clear he is a light use domestic user.

Dave

[Doctor Drivel]

But for the same price as a £300 Makita you have 60 batteries and chargers. Boy that is some energy on store.

[AlexW]

So am I but I still want to do a days work in a day, when that day happens.

Alex

[AlexW]

Got the 60 the first time(s) round.

Still incovenient.

[John Rumm]

I would hazard a guess that the performance of said 18V drill would be trounced by even a 9V one of quality construction....

(I find the 5 quid a little supprising mind you - are your sure it was

5? or is this one of the loss leader jobbies (i.e. "only one per customer while stocks last - only 3 allocated to each store" type of thing)

[Andy Hall]

Three years down the road on all products?

This assumes that there is a criterion of buying on price rather than quality. THis post is a classic demonstration of the outcome of doing that.

I find it hard to believe that even you think that a £5 product from Woolies (even if such a thing were to exist) is comparable to a quality drill.... Actually, perhaps I don't

[Grunff]

Not cheap, but certainly nasty.

Not really - you bought a crappy PPPro, it lasted 3 years. That's as much as you could possibly expect.

When I was looking for an 18V combi, I tried many drills. One of those was an 18V PPPro. I used it for one day and took it straight back - the quality was terrible.

Buy a better drill next time.

I don't think you have any chance.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

So you buy everything purely on price? What's the cheapest boiler?

And you claim to have bought a Prius car when a 200 quid banger will get you from A to B?

[snip the rest of the drooling]

[Dave Plowman (News)]

A long charge time is preferable with a cheap charger.

And if you're using a drill all day long, wouldn't a mains one make more sense?